Are you a young adult living in or near a small Vermilion County community? If you are – you may be just the person some area volunteer fire departments are seeking.
Several area departments are looking for more volunteers. Westville Area Fire Protection Chief Bob Ellis says his is one of them…
{‘’I’ve got a good group of people here. I’ve got some younger ones that are ready to learn. I’ve got some older ones that just – I’m sorry, but it’s to the point where they can’t do some of the stuff that needs to be done. So, yow, I would be more than happy to have people 25 to 35 to 40-years-old join this department to help us out,’’ said Chief Ellis.}
Lynch Area Fire Chief Chuck Walls is also looking for help for his department…
{‘’They’re all hurting for help. We’re all looking for volunteers – daytime, nighttime, EMTs,’’ said Walls. ‘’We’re looking for any personnel that wants to learn how to start as a firefighter,’’ he added.}
(Westville Area Fire Chief Bob Ellis)
Westville Chief Ellis notes you do not need any firefighting experience…
{‘’We do training twice a month. One training is on a Wednesday night and the other is on a Sunday morning. …Of course you have requirements by the state. We have our own requirements,’’ said Ellis. ‘’We have programs called Target Solutions that we can do online training.’’}
(Lynch Area Fire Chief Chuck Walls)
Lynch Fire Chief Chuck Walls was asked what he thinks it will take to solve the volunteer shortage….
{‘’I hate to say it – but another ‘9-11’ probably. That would be the honest truth. Because when ‘9-11’ happened everybody came out of the woodwork to jump in and help-out everywhere,’’ said Walls during an interview with VermilionCountyFirst.com News.}
If you are interested in joining either the Westville or Lynch Fire Departments you can stop by their station during Wednesday evening meetings. Walls noted contact can also be made on Facebook and Messenger. Other area volunteer fire departments are also looking for help. So if you live in an area served by a volunteer fire department contact the department serving your area.
{Note: Although he is retired, Bill Pickett is still doing feature stories for Neuhoff Media. If you have an idea for a story you can contact him at BillPickett@neuhoffmedia.com.}
